MLB Top Pitchers: April 5th

1. Chris Sale – BOS vs. PIT – $11,200

Chris Sale was the Red Sox’s big offseason acquisition, and he will be making his debut tonight. Sale was sixth amongst MLB starting pitchers with an average of 23.12 DKFP per start last season. Rostering him provides a ton of stability, as he scored at least 18 DKFP in 24 of his 32 starts last season. Sale stands to benefit from playing with a better team this year. Not only will the Red Sox’s offense help Sale get more wins, but the Red Sox also have a better defense than the White Sox. Last year the Red Sox were ranked 14th in baseball in defensive runs saved and the White Sox were ranked 24th. Better defense should be able to help Sale prevent some more runs.

2. Rich Hill – LAD vs. SD – $10,800

The Padres’ offense may have been able to tee off a bit last night on Maeda, but this is no reason to avoid trying to pick on them tonight. Last year the Padres had a .315 .wOBA against left-handed pitching, which was 20th in baseball. They also lead the league strikeouts against left-handed pitching by striking out 25.3 percent of the time. Rich Hill struck out 29 percent of the hitters he faced last season, which is the best strikeout percentage of any starter on today’s slate. In Hill’s lone start against San Diego las year, he picked up the win by pitching six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, which was good for 31.7 DKFP.

3. Jacob deGrom – NYM vs. ATL – $10,600

DeGrom doesn’t have quite the same upside as the first two pitchers on this list, but he does make for a pretty safe option in cash games. The Braves were ranked 26th in baseball with a .308 .wOBA against right-handed pitching. The Braves were also tied for the worst record in the National league with just 68 wins, which makes a win relatively likely for deGrom. Last year deGrom was nearly unhittable at home, in 13 starts he posted a 2.11 ERA and struck out 10.33 hitters per 9 innings.

4. Michael Pineda – NYY @ TB – $8,400

For his price tag, Pineda has a massive amount of upside. Pineda had at least 7 strikeouts in 16 of his 32 starts last season. Overall Pineda had a career-best 10.61 strikeouts per 9 innings. There is also an argument to be made that Pineda had a ton of tough breaks last season. He had a .339 BABIP (measures how often a ball in play goes for a hit) last season, which is much higher than his career average .300 BABIP. This lead to a massive difference between Pineda’s peripheral numbers and his actual ERA. He had a 3.8 FIP (measures what a player’s ERA would look like over a given period of time if the pitcher were to have experienced league average results on balls in play and league average timing), but he finished the year with a career-worst 4.82 ERA. If Pineda’s results normalize, he should be able to have a big bounce-back year. He should also be helped by the Rays’ offense which struck out the third most against right-handed pitching in 2016.

5. Garrett Richards – LAA @ OAK – $7,100

In 2014 Richards appeared to be an ace in the making. He went 13-4 with a 2.61 ERA, which was matched by his 2.6 FIP. Every since then he has run into a series of health issues. Last year was mostly a lost season for Richards and he was only able to pitch 34 1/3 innings after coming back from knee surgery. However, he was still effective with a 2.34 ERA. What was most promising to me was that his fastball velocity reminded intact. His average fastball speed in 2016 was 95.7 MPH, which is in line with his career average of 95.5 MPH. This shows to me that Richards does not have any lingering effects of being injured. Richards is still just 28 years old, so he has plenty of time to get his career back on track. He should benefit from pitching in Oakland tonight. The A’s have a below average offense and their stadium was the third most friendly pitcher’s park last season.

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Jacob deGrom • SP • NYM

Jacob deGrom continues late surge for Cy Young

Last season, deGrom ($11,500) ran away with the National League Cy Young. He had a historic season and his 1.70 ERA was one of the best marks in the history of the league. That kind of performance is tough to replicate, but he's been on the mark since the All-Star break. He has a sub 2.00 ERA in the second half of the season and has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 11 of his 13 starts. Tonight's performance was one of his best of the year. Pitching against the Dodgers, the best team in the National League, deGrom worked seven shutout innings and tallied eight strikeouts. He finished with 29.35 DKFP and could be on his way to back to back Cy Young Awards.

Eduardo Rodriguez strikes out 12 in pitchers' duel

Rodriguez ($10,300) went back-and-forth dueling with Aaron Nola ($9,500) tonight. Both allowed just a single run and the game came down to the bullpens. Neither starter got a decision although Rodriguez had the edge in the department we care about, fantasy points. The dozen strikeouts for E-Rod are a season-high and he scored 33.4 DKFP even though he didn't get the win bonus. On the other side of the game, Nola was no slouch. He pitched seven innings, striking out nine batters against a potent Boston offense and scored 27.55 DKFP. The lose for Philly was costly and moves it 3.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot. The Phillies need a near-flawless finish to the season to clinch a playoff birth.

Brett Gardner homers twice as Yankees roll 13-3

The Yankees continue to slug their way to the postseason and homered five times on their way to a 13-3 rout in Toronto. Gardner ($4,100; 39 DKFP) was the only player with multiple home runs, going 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI. Luke Voit ($4,600; 29 DKFP) went 2-for-3 with a home run, Gleyber Torres ($4,800; 20 DKFP) went 1-for-3 with a home run, and Mike Ford ($4,100; 16 DKFP) got in on the action coming off the bench with a home run in his only at-bat. The Yankees have 20 homers in their past six games and 285 on the season. They have already broken their record for most team home runs from last season and are ahead of the Twins in a race to set the new mark.